


Terror on a Friday night

by BlainePython



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Comfort, Exploration, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Horror, Horror Comedy, Humor, M/M, Scary, Spooky, Sweet, abandonned building, urbex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28751439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlainePython/pseuds/BlainePython
Summary: You planned the perfect Friday night with Hugo, everything goes well… but Ernest happens and you find yourself in what could have been an episode of Long Haul Paranormal Ice Road Ghost Truckers, but without the road...
Relationships: Hugo Vega/Dadsona, Hugo Vega/Reader
Kudos: 7





	1. Sweet Evening

**Author's Note:**

> This story is finished already. I’m only publishing one chapter a week. But you will see the end of this since it’s already written, so no worries it has an end.
> 
> First: Hi, hello there, this is still only my second fanfiction in English, I am not a native speaker, I really am doing my best here, but I don’t have a beta yet, so please if some sentence or word use seems wrong or odd to you, please tell me. Also I might not be the best at tagging...
> 
> Second: In this fic, the dadsona is very present since the story is told through their eyes. I tried to keep them close to how they are in the game, how they act, joke, think they are not named. I hope this will able you to self insert yourself into the story… 
> 
> Third: This is a spooky horror story with a bit of fluff and comedy. There is more horror than fluff. The first chapter doesn’t prepare you for this, but, this is a HORROR story. Spooky kind. So, be warned. If you don’t like spooky things. Also, this is my first time writing horror ever. I hope you will have fun. 
> 
> Also, in the second/third chapter, mentions of suicide are made. Only mentions, it’s not “explained or described”, but still, I prefer warning you.

Friday nights are kind of our nights. 

Hugo and I quickly took the habit of spending those evenings together. It was the only evening Hugo allowed himself not to work and rest a little. Plus, Ernest was once every two weeks at his other dad’s place and Amanda was always out with her friends… Let’s say the coast was clear. If you see what I mean…

But, school was a lot to deal with for Hugo these days… Ever since the beginning of flu season, there have been a lot of absentees. He had to put in a lot of extra work. He took a whole week of extra hours only to grade his colleague’s tests… and they were late. He became a substitute for a few classes, so he needed to prepare new lessons that would match what his colleagues have been previously doing. 

I offered my help more than once, but except for some fact-checking and researching, I wasn’t able to do much for him. I was a bit worried Hugo was working way too much… 

I can see he is becoming increasingly more exhausted week after week. He’s more stressed and nervous… I can tell it’s draining him… 

So, that night, I wanted everything to be perfect for him. I prepared all in advance, but kept it chill: homemade pizza rolls, some cheese, his favorite bottle of wine, and a prerecorded episode of MLW Fusion. I know he missed the special episode aired earlier this month. 

I even asked Ernest if he would consider spending the night at Damien’s with Lucien. A perfect deal for the both of us, since they already had it in mind. A deal with the devil if you want my opinion since I had to promise not revealing his math test until Sunday. And to save him some pizza rolls.

I also asked Mat if he could make me a custom blend of tea for Hugo. Something relaxing. As I am not a tea drinker, I have no idea if it’s good, but I trust Mat, and I do admit, it smells amazing. 

Overall, a perfect evening in perspective. Nothing could go wrong.

When Hugo came back home, he was so tired. His shoulders were tense. The light in his eyes wasn’t glowing as brightly as usual… I greeted him with a long kiss. He untied his hair and took off his blazer, hung it dry. The rain was raging out outside. I took off his bow tie. I love his bow tie, I’m always asking if I can help him put it on and off. That seems to amuse him. I gently ran my lips along his neck.

My little attentions seemed to have softened his mood. He was over the moon. Delight and peace erased his frustration and nervousness, but not the dark circles logged under his eyes.

We feasted like kings on our pizza rolls. Ernest is lucky I put his away already, or else they’d be gone. Hugo told me all about his day. I’m glad I got to meet one of his class earlier this year, it allowed me to keep up with him. I can’t believe that this Collin prick keeps on acting up. The entire class pretty much hates him for it now. We thought he would have calmed down by now… At least the class doesn’t back him up anymore. Hugo tried many things with him to have to behave during class, but today’s attempt was a debacle… It was upsetting. I didn’t know how to help… I tried to comfort him. This issue was starting to bring his motivation down.

I’m sure he will find something. Hugo is a good teacher, he doesn’t simply give his lesson and calls it a day. He really tries to help each student, finds things that work for them, doesn’t let them fall behind. I witnessed that many times when Amanda had trouble on her final year. It would be easy for him to do like his colleagues and simply give up on Collin… But he keeps trying. I admire him for that.

We settled down on the couch, Hugo took off his glasses and rested his head on my chest. He wrapped his arms around me. I think he knows how much I love when he does this. It makes me feel special in some way. I was running my fingers through his hair. Hoping to soothe him. I saw him squinting suspiciously at me before asking:

“Are you… braiding my hair right now?  
\- Oh no, I wouldn’t dare… only creating knots.”

He repressed a little chortle, amused. “My pleasure” I whispered. He snuggled up closer to me. He took my hand in his and started rubbing his thumb on the back of my hand. Tenderly.

I must say, we really nailed the ambiance tonight: on one hand, you have the fancy wine, tea, little lavender perfumed candles; and on the other hand you had the epic screams of the frenzy wrestling competition. Nailed it.

I noticed after a while, he had trouble keeping his eyes open. He was so tensed when came home, I’m glad he seemed to let go. The care that hung around him through the week seemed to have vanished. He looked so peaceful, with a faint little smile, hidden under his mustache. His glasses had left small marks above his nose.

I was not exactly paying much attention to the fight on TV… I should, he would probably ask me the outcome when he wakes up. I would much rather watch him slowly drifting into sleep. His breathing seemed to slow down.

Hugo doesn’t snore. No, he doesn’t, but, he does sometimes, tend to wheeze just a tiny bit. It’s barely noticeable. It’s often when he’s deeply asleep. His closed eyes were moving softly, I hope his dream was as soft as it seemed from my perspective. I tenderly slid my hand down his shirt to nuzzle his neck.

Outside, the storm had started to quiet down.

The front door abruptly opened itself in a clash. Hugo woke up in a jolt. I held him closer as a reflex...

Ernest emerged from the hallway and peeked his head through the living room. He was dripping on the floor, the poor kid was soaked to the bone. He was panting heavily, as if he had been running for a long time. He made us his angry grin, you know, the face he does when he’s outraged. To the point you would be scared he’d bite you if he could. Shoulders tensed up to his ears, with his hands buried deep in his pockets, his eyes darted from me to Hugo back and forth...


	2. Bad Idea

“What the hell you guys? Can’t you just pick up the phone?!”

Hugo jumped back up immediately, not effortlessly, with a bit of difficulty catching his balance. He walked up to his son. “Ernest! What happened to you?” 

Ernest dropped his shoulders. His face went from rage to worry. The tension left his eyebrows, his voice shook a little. “About that… I need help.” Both Hugo and I got very surprised by that statement. Hugo tilted his head.

Ernest looked at the ground. Hesitant. It looked like he needed to make effort to speak up..“Uh… Promise you won’t get mad…” He looked at his dad quickly before continuing. Hugo tried to repress a yawn. “I… Uh… I kind of lost Lucien…”

“What do you mean lost? Did you guys had a fight or something?” I asked while gathering my self up. My legs had gone asleep, I could not feel my toes.

“Uh no… We…Uhm…  
\- Well, don’t keep us in suspense!” His father gestured at him impatiently, concern written all over his face.

“Ok, ok… Uh… You see the old sanatorium not so far, outside of town?”

I did not, so I looked over at Hugo, who, judging by his eyes widening, indeed knew the said building. He covered his mouth with his hand, in disbelieve.

“Well… We had planned on exploring it tonight. And we did. And we got separated and… And I can’t find Lucien again…” The boy snorted a few times, a tremor shook his body for an instant.

“You went into the abandoned hospital? Are y-… It is a ruin! It’s dangerous!” Hugo articulated each of his words precisely, he was horrified. He held his face in his hand to contain himself.

“Yeah, you don’t say! That’s why we got separated, the stair didn’t hold…” My jaw dropped. Is he just telling us they went to a place so worn down the stair collapsed under their weight? This could have seriously injured them! And he’s chill about it!

“But why? Why did you two go there? What part of this sounded like a good idea? In the middle of a storm for Pete’s sake! How did you even get there in the first place!  
\- We just wanted to do urbex. Haven’t you heard, the place is haunted! We wanted to film it, thought it would look cool with the rain…” 

Hugo groaned and put his hand on his face, jaded. “Ernest, it’s only rumors to scare kids away… Why did you think about going there…” Hugo started muttering his frustration to himself.

“Wait, did you fell, are you injured? Is Lucien-  
\- No we’re fine! Ugh… It’s just separated the two of us and I think he got lost.”

Ernest grinned again and jabbered at us “Are you just gonna stay there? Help me find him back!”

Hugo and I opined. 

“Ok, first, get changed or you gonna catch death. Second, do we call Damien?” 

Ernest looked frightened, he shook his head at me. He begged us not to call him, mostly because he had promised Lucien he wouldn’t tell, no matter what. Telling us was already enough of a treason. To be honest we were already pretty grateful he dared to alert us… If he can get away with a mischief… 

We pushed Ernest to get changed while we’re getting ready. Well, that’s what we told him, in reality, we definitively called Damien.

He was not happy about it… But stayed extraordinarily calm. Said he would be at Hugo’s in a minute. But, we did let out the part about falling off the stair… Anyway. 

I still ran to my house to get some useful stuff, like flashlights, my coat, and a first aid kit… You never know… And some thick ranger shoes. I also happened to have a headlight I bought to make reparation on the house’s plumbing. A ridiculous, but very funny purchase if you ask Amanda. The silly little thing was about to briefly be the most helpful thing I owned.

It was still raining a little… I don’t know how damaged by time this building is, but I dearly hope it still got a roof…

When I went back to Hugo’s house, I spotted Damien already waiting on the porch, right next to Ernest’s bike. He was in too much hurry to care about it and just threw it on the side. I guess now we know how they went there.

I didn’t think Damien would be this quick, nor that he’d be well equipped: he thought just like me and also took a flashlight and a tough pair of shoes, rando style. I had no idea he owned that kind of thing… It was odd, seeing him still well dressed, as he usually would… but with a pair of light gray sporty shoes. I remarked when getting closer that he was not wearing his makeup, nor his lenses. 

Ernest got visibly upset when he noticed we didn’t listen and called Damien. He insisted on coming with us, in order to guide us. Although Hugo wanted him to stay home, to stay safe at all cost, they agree on letting him come but had the obligation to stay in the car no matter what.

We all got in the car in silence… The sanatorium wasn’t very far, something along 10 min car-ride. 

To pass time and break the awkward silence, I thought I’d ask it’s history on the way there and why Ernest said it was “haunted”… I was too curious. And let me tell you, it was not a good idea. I provoked Damien and Hugo’s wrath. One not wanting to bring bad omens, the other saying it was all just stupid rumors anyway and didn’t matter. Damien was looking visibly anxious, kneading his own hands and pinching his lips. 

Ernest, who was in the backseat with me, whispered there has been countless death and injuries inside the hospital, things that should have been avoided… His father tried to shush him, of course, without success, of course.

“It all seemed like an accident. Nurses seemed to be misplacing meds, a few patients got the wrong kind of medicine, some over-  
\- Ernest enough, we said no!” I like when Hugo takes his angry deep teacher voice that can resonate through the entire classroom. Sadly, it’s not exactly efficient on his own students… so imagine on his son.

“At least twenty people have died.” Continued Ernest. “It was odd because accidents happened almost every day: from medicine issue, to machine dysfunction, but a few incidents were just unex- ” 

“Ernest Hemingway Vega!!” Hugo yelled. “Would you just sit down quietly!”.

Ok, Hugo is starting to really get angry and I don’t like that. “Ok Ernest, please… I see where this is going”. He rolled his eyes, frustrated nobody wanted to hear his tale.

Damien was holding his head in his hands, trying to make abstraction of our discussion. I felt bad for the poor guy… I had forgotten how these kinds of story could affect him. I patted him on the shoulder to try to be reassuring. He did not seem to mind.

But I was curious nonetheless… I leaned over to Ernest and whispered “you’ll tell me later, ok?” the boy chuckled and nodded. I felt Hugo’s judging eyes staring at me through the side-view. Come on, these stories are always fun to hear… except for Damien, of course… Yeah, looking back it’s a good thing Ernest spared him further details…

We drove quietly until we arrived at the site of the sanatorium, only a few minutes later.


	3. Urbex dads

The sanatorium was surrounded by trees and had a little park in its entrance that was covered by weeds and bushes. Although the building was not hidden, you could see it from the main road. I guess we will need to be careful with our lights, I don’t really want to explain the situation to cops. There were no street lights nearby.

The hospital was not a big facility, it seemed to be only four floors for two different wings, in a ‘T’ like disposition. It probably was as big as the school Hugo works at. It wouldn’t take long to explo-… I mean, to find Lucien… Let’s not get distracted.

It had been abandoned for quite a long time. From Its broken windows, its withered painted walls, to its rusty sashes and frames, it clearly wasn’t in great shape. How long has it been abandoned? I never thought I’d even think this, but I wish I could have listened to Ernest more…

It was surrounded by tall fences, made out of metal mesh. Every now and then you would see “no trespassing” signs, along with other warnings, telling us the place was “at risk of collapsing”, “danger” or even “biohazard”… Uh, reassuring, I guess they have to put that on, just in case right? Let’s hope the others don’t notice… I spotted a bike abandoned against the fence. It must be Lucien’s. Covered with band’s stickers, it must be his.

I had no idea such a place existed near Maple-Bay, I guess it was already closed down when we first moved into town.

Hugo parked near the gates. Ernest told us we didn’t need to try to pry the lock and chains open, because there was a tiny opening in the fences on the left side. We should be able to go through it, a least, they did without an issue.

“Damien, you can stay in the car with Ernest if you’d prefer, we can go without you, don’t worry, we will find Lucien in no time.” Hugo put his hand on Damien’s shoulder and tried to reassure him. Dames had gotten paler than he usually was once he saw the place.

I wasn’t feeling as empathetic as Hugo was, not that I didn’t care about Damien’s feeling, I was starting to get worried for Lucien. I felt we needed to hurry. He could have hurt himself badly in there. We better not lose time. The place looked in bad shape, I doubt Lucien is the prudent kind…

The rain had gotten thinner, it was nothing but some king of humid fog by now. I felt relieved it calmed down so quickly.

I put on my thick shoes and my headlight while asking Ernest to describe me their path inside the building. Since it was absolutely out of question for Hugo to let him go back inside the building, yet we will need his guidance... 

His explanations were slightly confusing and sounded contradictory. Since we both mistakes our left and right, and drawing a map on our phones would have been even more confusing… I have no idea how he expected me to understand the doodle he made only using his finger on a 5-inch screen… Ernest got a better idea. Something modern I knew how to use.

“I know, I’ll call you on camera, you’ll show me your surroundings and I will guide you like this.” I nodded and prepared my phone. I’m so glad it spent all evening on its charger. I put it in my breast pocket, the camera filming what’s in front of me. We tried it, and it seemed to work fine. I would be able to hear Ernest and he could hear me. The camera was at a good level for him to see. “Just, remember me it’s in my pocket, I don’t want it to fall off when I bend down because I forgot I had it.” 

“This is my son, and I am going to get him. No matter what, I shall not helplessly rely on you.” Yet Damien was not moving from his seat… By the time I got ready, I would have hope they would have been at the fence by now. But Hugo was still trying to reassure Damien.

I guess someone had to take the first step. So I did. I checked on my backpack and my camera one last time, turned on my light, and headed towards the hole in the fence directly. It seemed to be the little push they needed Hugo followed me, a bit surprised I was so direct. Damien took a little more time to get out still, but finally got up, taking deep breaths. I have the feeling he is going to be a lot to manage… I much rather have him stay in the car… But I get it, even deadly scared I would still do anything for Amanda… I will pay attention not to rush him too much.

The fence wasn’t too bad, we had to squeeze ourselves a little, especially Hugo, being the tallest of us. But we went through and avoided getting scratched.

I heard Ernest moving around, making himself comfortable in the safety of the car. “See, the front door is barricaded, so you would need to pass by the window on the left… No the other left… yeah.” He explained, still moving around. As I am the camera guy, I opened the way.

Hugo stopped when he saw the said window was smashed down.“Hemingway! you are not telling me you jumped through a broken window.” He muttered angrily behind me. I don’t think Ernest caught that, since I had to be loud for him to hear me well. Hugo gasped, “There’s glass shard everywhere!” He muffled down his swearing, in the corner of my eye I saw his face going red. I would have been pretty mad if Amanda had done that too, so I abstain from commenting… At least, they’re not the ones who broke the window to enter… well I hope.

Damien let out a faint little whine at the sight of the shattered window. Worried. He patted his forehead with a piece of clothing to cool down a bit.

The window seemed to look out on a little office, probably for a guard of some kind of security, judging by the number of broken screens inside. They had obviously have been bashed by someone. I suspect squatters… The door in the background was open in a dark hallway. I couldn’t see anything past it.

“If you bend yourself a little, it’s fine, just watch your head and hands not to cut yourself, edges are very sharp.” I did not follow our guide’s instructions, took out my scarf and wrapped my hand with it. “Wait, what are you doing?”

Damien murmured “We should probably look after other entrances, we would not be able to leave from there if we happened to be in a hurry… And it would most certainly be safe if we could find a-  
\- It’s alright Dames, we are safe, right?” Hugo murmured back to him when he saw I started cracking the little pieces of glass that were still holding onto the frame, safely removing them.

Ernest barked at me “Hey! Rule number one of urbex, do not break anything!  
\- Rule number one of everything in life, safety first.” I grunted as I wriggled myself inside the room. It was much easier than it looked, I could have been a bit more gracious doing that. “And we’re not doing urbex… we’re looking after Lucien.”

The noise of my shoes crushing glass resonated in the room, all the way up into the hallway. My light reflected itself on a window at the end of the hall, casting elongated shadows all around. I wasn’t very confident, but knowing Hugo was just behind me comforted me a lot. I moved on the side, hitting my butt on a desk I didn’t see, and helped him and Damien get in. Everything was covered with dust and dead leaves. With the rain and ambient humidity, everything felt muddy.

You could guess it was a well-frequented spot, the walls were covered with tags… Doesn’t make it safer…

Hugo looked at me nervously, frowning, pinching his lips “This is a terrible idea… we should just call the police or… I don’t know, the fire department, do they do that?  
\- It would take an awfully long time and we’re already there.” I shrugged and went through the door, entering what seemed to be the main lobby. If we see this gets too complicated or dangerous, then yes… But right now I think we can make on our own. I heard Hugo letting out a long deep sigh before following my steps.

The place was filled with noises. I listened carefully while looking around. The whole building was cracking and creaking and screeching. Water was loudly dripping from the ceiling’s fissures and echoing all around us, forming lots of puddles. It was impossible to identify each crack. Wood moving, glass crunching, paper ruffling, chains clicking, maybe even pieces of concrete falling, I couldn’t tell. Well, no, I did identify one very clearly. It simply was Damien’s grinding teeth…

I’m pretty sure the place must be packed with animals, rodents, insects, most of them are probably nocturnal, we shouldn’t get too surprised if we see rats running in front of us. 

The wallpaper was almost completely riped from the walls, few bricks had fallen off. The lamps were on the grounds. Almost no objects had stayed in place on their pieces of furniture; benches, seats and tables were knocked down. More tags… I spotted a bunch of empty beer bottles and cans… I guess a few folks had their fun there… let’s just hope no homeless made this their home… We wouldn’t want to meet someone who would see us as intruders.

The more concerning certainly was the roof: damp strains all around, holes, collapsed parts, cables hanging. And that’s only the first floor’s ceiling… I felt as if it could crumble onto us at any time. I was more afraid of the state of the building itself than the overall dark ambiance it was creating.

Between the puddles, the dead leaves, torn paper and a multitude of items and debris, it was complicated to walk in silence. I guess that’s a good thing: if someone else is here, we will hear them, which makes Lucien more easily locatable, hopefully.

“See, it’s not that bad. It’s not that worn down.” Have you seen worse than this Ernest? I’m getting concerned… “Should we call after Lucien?” I asked, naively, loudly. Hugo disapproved of my question, looking at me as if I was the dumbest student of his class. His eyes ordering me to stay quiet… Hey, not cool.

“Do you really want to yell in an abandoned and haunted hospital in the middle of the n-  
\- Ernest, would you stop with this, where do we need to go?” Hugo whispered, I noticed he was eying around apprehensively.

“What’d you say?  
\- Ernest, where to?!” Hugo was losing his patience, spoke much louder than he would have preferred… He kept looking nervously around, to be sure the noise didn’t alert anything…

“Ugh, you guys don’t need to whisper either you know… anyway, Lucien and I went in the main hallway in front of you, then took the first corridor on the right. You know how you’re supposed to always go the same direction when in a labyrinth? Well, we did that, even if it’s not a labyrinth. We checked a ton of the rooms. But don’t waste your time, it’s only empty bedrooms, nothing fun there… We took the stairs at the end. But those are the ones that broke down.”

Damien walked to me, carefully observing his surroundings. He was shivering. He was grasping his flashlight tightly, as if he was holding on for dear life.

The wind blew loudly through the entire building in a horrible howling sound. If the noise didn’t scare me, Damien’s reaction did. He screamed and grabbed my coat tightly at my shoulders. He hid himself behind me. I let out a deep sigh… Hugo looked in our direction, hiding his smile in his mustache.

“That was only the wind my friend.” I said out loud. Which seemed to unnerve Damien as he tightened his grip and shook me a little to make me quiet. 

Hugo took a few steps forward and look at the hall Ernest was mentioning. He was trying to be as quiet as possible, carefully avoiding to knock the empty bottles strewed around. On the other side of the camera, Ernest grunted “No, god… the other side I said.” Yeah… It would be simple to just point a way and ask him if it’s this one he’s talking about… His father was very displeased, but obediently went the other way.

“Ah... You are right… I apologize… This will not happen again…” Damien’s voice wasn’t very steady, he kept whispering so low it was barely audible. I gave him a look, but he didn’t seem to understand. “Fine, keep holding my coat. If it makes you feel safer.” He let go of me immediately, embarrassed. He stood there immobile, wondering at what else he could hold onto. He ended up holding his flashlight in both hands.

I caught back to Hugo who didn’t seem to know what to do next, observing the hallway. “Ernest, were you up those stairs when they broke? What did you do next?”.

The hallway was quite long, and pitch black. No windows. Only an endless line of doors. The metal handles were reflecting our lights, making them look like thousand of tiny shining eyes. Few lamps had started falling off and were hanging, sometimes by a thread, others were already on the ground. Those still hanging were swinging with the wind, still blowing strongly through the entire hall… “Not so worn down”, he said… it’s a complete wreck…

Ernest sighed and grunted. “Well, I was like, on the second or third step and Lucien was like, almost all the way up when it collapsed. I jumped backward and he jumped forward. So I was still on the first floor but he was up the second.”

Damien whined “Did you two get hurt?” He held his light closer to his chest. Ernest didn’t seem to hear him. He caught back with us, on the tip of his toes.

“We tried to meet again at another stair… But, well… you’ll see, the closer ones are… not accessible.  
\- So, the last thing you know, he was on the second floor?  
\- Yeah, I don’t know if he found a way down… I tried to call you guys soon after.”

I walked to what looked like a staircase in the entrance of the hallway. It was full of debris and… apparently someone had thrown a bed in there? One of those old, fully metal beds, with springs? Oh that’s what’s left of the mattress! There was a small gap between the bed and the banister. It was narrow, but maybe I could squeeze myself through it… assuming the stairs would even stand my weight… Bad idea…

I clicked my tongue. “Did you find one that was accessible?  
\- No…”

“Hey, not so loud” hushed me Hugo. I kept talking out loud, or else Ernest wouldn’t be hearing me, which didn’t seem to please Hugo that much. I was feeling much more comfortable now that we had spent a few minutes inside the building. Sure it was dark, and made creepy noise, but, it was only very old concret and wood. Talking out loud and making noises didn’t bother me. I ignored his remark and asked Ernest “No? What area didn’t you go to, we should try that.” Hugo tiled his head and put his hand on his forehead, complained in silence. I was probably pissing him off as much as his son was… But honestly, there was no real other way… I was hoping this would help Lucien finding us too, if he recognizes our voice in the distance he might call us for help or something.

Ernest sighed again. “Well… I… Uhm, shortly after losing Lucien... I uh… I heard something and I got scared so I… left and tried to call you guys… As I said.  
\- You heard something? Like what?!” Damien’s voice got slightly a pitch higher. I heard him swallow noisily right before.

“Ernest, have you had Lucien on the phone or some way of contacting him?  
\- No… He doesn’t pick up…  
\- That’s a good idea tho, he had his phone on him, right? Dames, call him. Maybe we can hear his ring tone” I gestured towards him, insinuating him to hurry.

“Uh guys, we’re not granddads like you, our phones are on silent mode” I moaned in disapprobation…

“Ok, then we should check each staircase we find to get on the second floor. I’m gonna take a look at where you got separated nonetheless. Could be climbable.” I started walking deeper into the hallway without asking for anyone’s opinion. I made a little gesture with my hand to tell Hugo and Damien to check the main hall’s stairs. They were hesitant. I wasn’t afraid, I wasn’t alone, I had Ernest with me. I hear one of them slapped his hands on his legs in disappointment. Must have been Hugo. They watched me slowly disappearing into the darkness of the hallway before starting to roam around on their side. 

“No offense, but you really think you could climb that?… Don’t waste your time…  
\- I did not say that I would. Maybe Lucien went back at the stairs… hope to call you”

But I have to admit. As I kept walking forward, I was starting to lose my confidence. Not all the doors I was passing by were closed. Creating dark, unexplored rooms on my peripheral vision. You know, the spot where your brain imagine whatever it wants to fill its lack of information. The area where shadows take the oddest shapes. Those images only worsened for each door I passed by. 

I kept walking. It’s only in my head, it’s an illusion of sorts… It’s gonna be fine, it’s not that bad. I am not alone anyway. I’m safe.

But that wasn’t taking the noise into account. The wind seemed to be blowing stronger. Probably air streams. Drops of water echoed louder. It felt like being in a cave. I felt my nerves tense up each time a crack resounded. This is only the building… This is only the wind… It’s ok. I’m not alone… This hallway felt longer than it actually was.

I tried to reassure myself, when noises felt like they were from behind me. It was probably Hugo and Dames, only a few meters away. I wanted to turn around, to check on them. But didn’t happen to do so. The idea of having to turn back again, to have to face the area I left completely dark behind me, wasn’t so pleasing… So I kept going. 

Then I heard a crack on my left. It froze me on spot. If someone had stepped on glass in the room right next to me, it would have done that exact same noise. I distinctively heard it from one specific room. I was absolutely certain of it. The door was closed.

“You heard that, right?” Whispered me Ernest. Yes, I did.

I stayed silent for what felt like long minutes. Then I heard others, quieter cracks. Something was in there. I took a deep breath. Put my hand on the handle. I hear Ernest gasping. I honestly did not think about what I was doing. I guess I just hoped this would have been Lucien? I just needed to know what made that noise.

And I opened the door at once.

My light illuminated the empty room. I saw nothing at first. Until a little shadow moved on my right. I got startled. But it was only a rat. How did a rat make such a loud noise? Yeah, it’s a fat one but.. Still…

Reassured, I left my newly made companion alone, closing the door on them and kept surveying the hallway. Ernest was as reassured as I was, we sighed in union. Then he mocked me “Did you really get scared by a rat? I can’t believe this.” So, I played along with him. “Do you think that was what scared you off earlier?” He chortled quietly, just the same way his father does.

“Uh no… it was not that…  
\- What was it then? Any ideas?  
\- Are you sure you want to know?” I sighed. I wanted to play with him. Anything to get a distraction from the slender shadows my mind was imagining behind me…

“Tell me.  
\- You won’t believe me… but… It sounded like a voice. But it was not Lucien.”

At least it muffled the horrendous sounds of the night, although what he was saying was not the most… heartwarming things.

“What did it say?  
\- Nothing, was more of a laugh. Like a little girly laugh… You know, a bit like Christie…” I groaned.

“I hope you are having a lot of fun telling me these things while I’m in there, currently alone. Is it cool tormenting your father’s boyfriend?” He chuckled. Of course it is. Enjoy while you can. I still have a math test up my sleeve…  
“Well, it lightens the mood.”

We kept chatting like this until I arrived at the staircase. Ernest wanted to take advantage of the fact Hugo and Damien’s absence to tell me the rest of the allegedly haunted place. “So, you see, everyone was starting to lose their mind… Even the nurses and doctors, they didn’t feel safe anymore in the hospital, a few of them even killed thems-” I gently tried to tell him that, now was not the time… I would greatly appreciate this, later… I’m curious, but, not right now…

“There was this one very old lady who was completely insane, apparently she tried to burn the building down a few times. They had to keep her attached to the bed. That was too much to take in for the nurses and they-” He was not listening, so the best solution that came to mind was to take out my phone and put my hand on the speaker to cover it until I was in front of the staircase.

It was indeed in very bad shape, the one reaching the second floor was entirely broken down. The wood must have rotted, it looked damped. I put my foot on a piece and it crumbled without any resistance. And as I did, the wooden parquet underneath me squeaked badly. I stepped back without giving it a second thought. How foolish must you be to even think about getting on that. 

“See there’s no way you can climb that.” Ernest, with his proud sarcastic tone was trying to make a point.

“See, there’s no way these stairs would have hold.” My comment made Ernest groaned back and chuckled again. See, I think sarcasm is a key to this boy’s heart.

I tried to get a glimpse of what was upstairs. But only saw shadows and debris… I wanted to call after Lucien. But wasn’t as confident as I was earlier. Come on, you’re not a kid, you are an adult, and this is not a horror movie, you’re not scared ok, just do it.

“Lucien?… Lucien are you there?” Faintly at first, I manage to regain my ease and spoke fully. “Lucien?” I tried to jump in place to better see, forgetting about the solidity of the ground. It cracked under my feet. I only managed to blind myself with the reflection of my own light… probably a broken mirror or something, something I hadn’t spot earlier. I had to blink repeatedly to try and regain my sight.


	4. Tough Guy

Suddenly, an awfully deafening crash resonating somewhere behind me. The brutal shock of metal against a tiled floor reverberated across the entire building. I am sure as day that even Ernest would have heard without the camera, from the car. The clatter was accompanied by strident screams. I jolted. All the nerves of my body stung me, and I know, by the pain I felt in my chest for the next few minutes, that my heart had skipped a beat. 

I did not think twice and ran immediately back to the hall as fast as I possibly could. My legs were carrying me on their own. I almost tripped on all of the trash that was lying around. I was still half-blind, odd colored patches blocking my sight every now and then. I hit a hanging lamp with my head. I brushed it off and kept running. Ernest was talking to me but I couldn’t pay attention.

Anything could have happened. The crash was so loud it kept echoing in my ears. I kept imagining the worst. The roof collapsing crushing both Hugo and Dames, trapping them under debris… We didn’t have helmets, we didn’t take helmets… This is horrible. My thoughts were rushing. They could be so badly injured. Maybe the ground crumbled down and they fell into some kind of basement or boiler room. Maybe someone appeared and threw something at them, I don’t even know.

Once in the main hall I spotted Damien crouching down on the floor, his hands on his ears. He had dropped his light, which had started to flicker. The noise was still echoing. I was out of breath, I looked around and saw Hugo hand on his mouth. He was standing in front of some debris but walked backward from it. They looked ok. Hugo was ok. But that didn’t mean I was relieved. Ernest had gone silent, observing cautiously.

I walked up to him. When he noticed my light, he turned over me. He squinted at me and used his hand to shield his eyes from the brightness of my light. He had become pale as a ghost and looked visibly disgusted. I covered my light as I got closer to him, he seemed to regain a bit of composure and uncover his mouth. “It’s OK, we’re good. It’s only the ceiling…”

His voice wasn’t steady, a shiver shook him up briefly… But he was uninjured, nothing has fallen on him. That’s all that mattered to me. I gently took his hand in mine.

“Dad are you ok? What the hell happened?” Hugo’s face light up as he heard his son referring to him by “dad”. It was so rare… I’m a bit sad he didn’t get the time to truly appreciate it this time.

Quite a large piece of the ceiling had broken down, taking one of the few neon lamps that were still up with it. But there was some odd white, brownish, (fluffy?) matter-stuff, along with the debris… It looked… mushy and wet maybe? It seemed almost gooey. It made me think of one of those fluffy scarfs you can get, like you know, in fake fur? I went a bit closer, Hugo caught me by the sleeve to prevent me “No no, no don’t look it’s not… pretty”

But I was too curious. I couldn’t piece up what it was, it had such an abnormal shape. I couldn’t make it up… until the smell hit my nose. No need to come any closer. “Oh goodness… Ok” Curiosity did get the cat on this one, I started coughing heavily. Probably a vain attempt of my body to push the smell out of my lungs. I have a strong stomach, I honestly do, but that smell… It took the cake. The image too, pieced itself up instantly once I understood. I should have listened

“Hey what’s that?” Ernest sounded both intrigued yet slightly disgusted. I heard him moving his phone around. I guess he saw just enough to get the idea but wanted confirmation. 

I had never smelled something that rancid. Something so pungent yet… Kind of... Sweet? I stepped away. Hugo brought me in his arm to comfort me. Or to comfort himself. I buried my nose in his neck and hair. For a short moment, I got to smell the scent of his shampoo instead of this… ghastly thing.

“Guys, what is that?” Ernest insisted, angrily, not liking going blind for the duration of our embrace.

“You don’t wanna know. It’s not alive and it’s not Lucien, so you don’t need to worry.” Hugo was holding me closer, I felt his hand softly patting my back. If the thing fell right in front of him, he must have had quite a shock.

“Don’t you dare say such a grim presage, Hugo!” Damien was trying to get himself back up. He was shaking violently. He glanced at Hugo with strong indignation. I felt his eyes were a lot scarier without his lenses.

Damien dusted himself off but had to accept that his cloak was going to stay covered with mud. He picked up his flashlight and looked mortified when he noticed it had gotten damaged. Apprehending having to roam around the building in this dire circumstance. He swallowed noisily, accepting reluctantly the situation.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to… Are you fine?” Damien stood motionless for a second before nodding, in a hazy manner.

“Guys, come on!” Ernest grew impatient. I broke Hugo’s embrace and place my hand on the camera to turn away from this bad omen. I was still coughing a little, nausea was starting to get better. I made effort not to gag. Ernest groaned in frustration.

Hugo cleared his throat before speaking up again. “Dames and I found a way up, over there, it seems… safe enough. I heavily suggest we speed things up.” His voice sounded more confident. I nodded. I followed Hugo who this time, was opening the way. 

He entered what looked like a service staircase. It was narrow, there wouldn’t have enough space for us to be next to each other. Anyway, even if the steps looked steady enough, they still creaked under our feet. I had to resist the urge to walk tiptoe on them.

Damien was way behind, he had stopped walking to hit his light frantically in a desperate attempt to stop the flickering. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. You’d thought he’d knew better from his job…

All of this was getting too much for him… I couldn’t leave him behind like this: Without a word, I took my headlamp off and gave it to him, snapped his light off of his hands. He looked at me shocked as if I just had done the rudest of things… He looked at the headlight, confused. “You’ll be better with this one” I whispered. He thanked me sincerely for the light but seemed wary of me.

Damien was so stressed and on edge, each crack, each water drop, each wind blow was startling him. I did not miss having him just behind me again… the grinding of his teeth… But we will note that he tried his very best to repress any screams, groans or whines. I cleared my throat a few times… To make him notice. Hugo didn’t quite like that and gave me a few glances…

On the other hand, even though he had been spooked earlier, Hugo was still holding his chin up and kept going seemingly without fear. I could tell he wasn’t comfortable either, he was clenching his jaw, his shoulders were tensed. He was looking back to check on us many times.

We all happily reached the second floor without falling to our death. This floor looked identical to the previous one. 

We ended up in another hallway. On our left (the real left), another endless line of doors. Although there were a bit more windows, we could see light coming from outside. The moon was shining through the clouds… In front of us, behind two tall doors, one of which hadn’t resisted to time, was a large room. Inside were a lot of tables with chairs, many were not standing straight anymore. The back wall was only windows, looking out to the back of the building. You’d probably be able to see Maple Bay’s beach from there. I guess this used to be a refectory. The piece of ceiling that broke down earlier probably came from there… We should avoid going in. On our right, another hallway. Longer. Darker. Creepier. A door was open toward the inside of the hall, blocking the view from there. Making the black gap between the door and the wall extra ominous. It was so dark, your brain could just easily create and animate stuff around it. Like scrawny dirty witch’s hands. Or hunting glowing eyes… 

I looked away. Fixated my gaze on Hugo’s shirt, it was much lovelier. Ernest noticed and made fun of me, but I knew he too felt uneasy at the sight of this terrifying dark hallway…

We stayed in front of the refectory for a few minutes to decide what to do. Lucien could be anywhere. But if he did not come down, that means he did not pass by those stairs. Or else he would have come down by now. That means he’s probably still on the left hallway. It’s not far from where they got separated from Ernest… Which is not a good sign… 

This floor wasn’t safe at all… We will have to be very careful where we put our feet.

We agreed to go left first. To call after Lucien and to check each room. Maybe he got scared too and hid in one of them. I don’t know… We’re uncertain at this point… We also agree to stay together. No more playing tough and going on my own, I received that loud and clear. One of us check the room on the right, the other the room on the left. It’s quicker, it’s safer. It should be safe.

We were all watching our steps with a lot of prudence, and kept an eye above our heads. The roof wasn’t in a better shape than the first floor’s one. As there were more windows on that floor, there was also a lot more wind, now we know where most of the air streams came from. It was so noisy sometimes, Ernest wasn’t able to understand me. At least, it felt a tiny bit more luminous thanks to the moonlight. But as the light I now had was flickering, the shadows it was casting were… unpleasant to say the least. It must have been very uncomfortable for Ernest too.

This was yet again, full of bedrooms. But those were much more furnished than those on the first floor. It was unsettling at first, as among the furniture, we would find beds or coat-hangers, more than once those appeared as humanoid shapes on the corner of my eyes.

Against my better judgment, and without asking for my consent, Damien paired up with me. He tried to open doors and enter a few rooms first a few times. He didn’t want to be the one who relies on others constantly. I appreciated the initiative. I haven’t been totally fair with him… He did take a lot upon himself tonight. After all, he’s the father of the son we lost in this creepy place. After a long inspiration, I apologized to him, told him that, since he was with me on doors, he could just say it if he was too stressed or needed a break. He smiled at me warmly, greatly appreciating the thought. 

We even took the time to check for the bathrooms. Again, you never know, if the kid hid himself… I have never been so creeped out by shower curtains before. Why on earth did they leave the shower curtains on those things?? I knew there were there, yet I still got startled at each bathroom…

Each time Damien went facing me I had to squint my eyes not to get blinded by the headlight. I guess I forgot how powerful this lamp was… I will apologize later for blinding them with it earlier.

On what could probably have been our fifth pair of bedrooms, I noticed Hugo froze in the doorway. I observed him a short instant, to see if he was simply hesitant, but still didn’t move. He finally said something, on a very low tone… “Guys, can you… come check this with me?”

Damien hurried, hoping for his son. But at the sight of what was inside the room gasped so intensely he almost choked. He walked back immediately. Coughing terribly. Hugo didn’t budge. Damien leaned against a wall, choosing his spot carefully in order to be safe. I approached passed my head over Hugo’s shoulder.

Most of the beds were still there. Those ones were medical ones. Well, the old kind. I think they did not pass through the doors easily, and would have needed to be dismantled to be taken out, which was probably too much of a hassle. There were usually two beds per room. 

But in this one, there was just one. In the middle of the room, which was unusual. There were no other pieces of furniture than this bed. Around it, there were a bunch of burnt or partially burnt candles. At the bed end, a small rush basket with what looked like rotten fruits and some dried up flowers. On the ground some sort of ugly drawings and words. “Not a word…”. “She’s asleep”. “Do not wake her up”. Over each sentence was disposed what looked like some small animal’s bone.

There was a blanket on the bed. It was supposed to be white, but time and elements strained it of brown, black, green and reddish colors. As you have guessed. It looked like something was under this blanket. As someone was actually sleeping. It really had a human body like shape. As the person was sleeping on their right side, with their legs distinctively bent…

Intrigued, I glanced at Hugo, who could not leave his eyes from the bed. He whispered to me “This a joke, right?” I gently pushed Hugo on the side, so I could enter the room. Yes it’s a joke. “It’s Mama’s bed” written in red ink on the ground had clearly been written with spray paint. And upon closer inspection, the bones were only plastic. Some vet must have lost their trustworthy model I guess. Those kids had a lot of fun. Somehow, I got a lot less scared from this than by the freaking opened door on the other hallway. This was simply grotesque, overdone. The paint gave it away instantly… a good mix of brown, black and red would have made a better convincing fake blood.

As Ernest saw the scene he got excited “Wow… sick! Can you check what’s under the blanket?”

“Uhm… I think it would be wiser not to waste any time with this farce…” Damien looked away and undertook to check another room. That was bold of him. “It’s just like in the story! Dude if you had listened to me, you’d recognize this. It’s the old lady’s bed, come on check it out!”

Hugo was still staring at the bed, occasionally glancing at me. Hugo shifted his balance and shook his head at me, muttered my name. I was a bit surprised he would be this unwilling to enter the room. Dames, well that was expected. But Hugo is a rational person. And this is nothing but a ludicrous masquerade.

“Come on, please I’m curious.” Ernest was making a lot of comments, he probably was having a blast. I mean, it was a cool night for him, basically watching an urbex live stream, in the safety and comfort of his dad’s car.

I admit having some hesitation once I was only inches away from the bed. I don’t know why or how… but I could have sworn the thing just moved. Like a breath. Could have been the wind… Or just an illusion. Your brain can trick you sometimes…

“Come on, tough guy, do it!”. Yes, I am a tough guy, that’s right. I caught the blanket by its edge and pulled it away in a grandiose revelation.

Nothing. Just a bunch of clothes and sticks. Well done kids.

I heard Hugo sigh in relief. Yet, I did not feel so comfortable. 

I felt a chill down my spine, a blow of icy wind brushed against me. An air stream, right? But I felt no wind when entering the room. I looked around to see where it could come from, the windows in this there were intact. No holes in the roof… 

I decided to leave Mama’s room of horror hastily and to catch up with Hugo, him and Dames had already moved on.

I tried to hurry during the search… The noises of the building were starting to get on my nerves. I had the urge to identify each of them. This floor was noisier than the first. The whole thing was so windy… I was still feeling cold air on my back.

One noise in particular unsettled me.“Ernest. Is that you?” I asked at some point, because that did not sound like the wood furniture moving, that was a crisp in someone’s mouth. And I guessed that correctly judging by the boy’s cackle.

“Ernest, do you sincerely think it’s the time to eat? Where did you even get those?” I guess I wasn’t the only one whose nerves were getting at the end of their capacity. We should really hurry. We were almost at the end of the corridor and still no signs of Lucien.

The last rooms didn’t seem to be bedrooms, they were probably staff’s rooms, they seemed much bigger. Couches, desks, fridge, tiny kitchen… We checked what looked like the nurse’s break room. It was still filled with personal belongings, photos, books, even… old unopened pack of candies and biscuits. I recognize that brand, it was some sort of chocolaty thing from the 80’… Absolutely horrendous, now you know why it got discontinued. Did they leave the building in a hurry or… Why wouldn’t they get their stuff back… I should have listened to Ernest after all.

Intrigued, I checked some old files that were still lying around, covered with dust. The ink was faded. But I still manage to read the patient’s name, and some notes taken on their behavior. The words “hallucinations” and “manic episodes” popped up numerous times. Ernest read it with me, asked me what “Iprit” was. Hugo, who wasn’t very far from me, answered immediately: “It’s one of the names of the gas they used during world war one, in the trenches… It was deva- wait… why are you asking that?” 

I showed him the report and he frowned at me. Right… I put the report exactly back where it was. You know, rule number one, you don’t touch anything… Wait… I looked over at Hugo and asked “Are you telling me this report is over 100 years old?  
-Well, no… Iprit hasn’t been used only in WW1, it was also- … Why do I keep answering this? Just drop it...”

I obeyed quietly and kept roaming around the break room. I spotted a door at the back, hidden by tall lockers. It seemed to be leading toward another room that didn’t look accessible from the corridor. It had a heavy lock on it. But it had been pried open. It was a thick door too, made out of metal. I guess that must have been the medicine storage room, or a safe maybe. Hugo and Dames had left the break room already. As this room hadn’t been checked, I went in, naturally. I should have told them before entering.

It was indeed a large storage room filled with tall metal shelves. Bottles, vial, flasks, damped cardboard boxes and other various containers were still on it. A lot of it was on the ground… I instinctively covered my nose. The air was thick and foul. It had no windows. It was completely pitch black, a thick layer of dust was shining through the ray of my light.

I looked around and froze in place, speechless, when I spotted the two wide-opened eyes staring at mine.


	5. Wide Open

Ernest gasped. I hear he moved around his camera, as he got closer to see better probably. I got so shaken up that I didn’t react directly. 

Only a few feet away from me, two wide-open eyes were staring at mine. Horrified. Silents tears running down a completely white face. Mouth opened. I felt my heart sink deep into my chest. Ernest stayed silent, confused and rattled as I was. It took me a moment to recognize him, between two flickers of the light, it was him.

As I opened my mouth to alert the others, his eyes got blurry. A trembling index rose on his mouth and shushed me. His entire body was shaking. I shook my head in disbelieve. I was baffled. He must have been in such a fright and needed to feel safer, to be comforted. I took a step forward, glass screeched under my foot.

I heard a ruffle, something moved in the back of the room. A rat or something? But Lucien tensed up instantly. Shaking more violently. I did not think much of it, and tried to direct my lamp towards the source of the noise, but the shelves were so filled and numerous, I couldn’t see anything. Lucien gestured at me to take my light down. I didn’t understand why.

The thing kept moving around. I could not spot it no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t see it. I could not guess what it was. The best I distinguished was some large shadow… It had to be an animal or something right? A big fat rat. Yeah, a big fat rat. Like earlier. A big big fatty rat.

A very faint and subtle murmur reached my ears. “Shh… You woke her up.” A tear dropped down his cheek… What do you mean her?? The thing kept ruffling stuff around. It was starting to make a bit too much noise to my taste. I felt my sweat running down my back. I had to do something.

Hugo and Damien must have wondered where I went, I heard them speaking but couldn’t make up what they were saying. I knew they were checking the room in front of the nurse’s break room. Lucien heard it too, his face went from horrified to frighten. He was holding his breath. His eyes locked into mine begged me to do something. 

The noise made by Hugo and Dames seemed to have alerted whatever was in that room with us. It started moving more, I think it was getting closer. It was slow… Yet everything felt so out of time, It felt ominous and unstoppable. I could hear each of its steps. It sounded as if it was dragging something very heavy with itself… That. That was not a rat. I had to do something.

It’s breathing got louder, loud enough for us to hear... It sounded heavy, slow, but kept getting faster and louder, hoarse and deep. It sounded atrocious and painful. No known animal to mankind does that noise. It was accompanied by some sort of drippings noises… as if it was drooling. It was getting closer to us, and Lucien was the closest one. I had to do something.

I kept trying to spot it with my lamp but its flicker worsened, it was going to die in my hands and we would soon be in complete darkness. In the dark with that thing, we would be helpless. I had to do something.

I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t speak. No sounds were able to come out of my mouth. My knees felt weak, my heart was pounding in my chest. The thing walked on something that crumbled under its weight. The noise echoed in my head. It was heavy. Just like Lucien, I was paralyzed. Incapable of doing anything, too terrified of how this atrocious thing could react to any of our actions. But I had to do something. 

Its steps were only a few meters away from Lucien now. I had to do something. Whatever this is, I can’t let it get to Lucien.

I heard Hugo calling my name in the back. 

The thing stopped instantly. 

It heard.

It listened quietly.

Hugo was walking toward the door.

It heard, it knew.

The thing growled loudly. A deep, powerful, angry, cavernous howl. Never have I heard such a terrible noise. It sounded enraged. Gurgles, drips, howls…Between two flickers of the light, I saw something. It was huge. It was definitively not a rat. It had green piercing eyes. 

Then, the thing started marching faster in our direction. On its way, it knocked off one of the shelves and everything on it fell apart in a deafening crash. I felt my blood rushing through my veins. The noise shook me so much it got me out of my paralysis. 

I jolted on Lucien, caught him by his arm and dragged him with me as I threw myself out the door. I had dropped my flashlight to seize the handle. I slammed the door as hard as I possibly could. The thing launched itself on the door in a strong, metallic bang. Lucien screamed. He could not hold the pressure and fear any longer. He broke down entirely.

But we were out, and separated from the thing. I was there, sitting on the floor, my back against the door, holding Lucien close with one hand and not letting go of the handle with the other. Lucien was holding onto me so tightly I felt his nails digging onto my skin, through all the layers of clothing I had.

In front of us, confused and horrified Hugo was looking at us, unable to process what just happened and had no clue what to do right now. Maybe, just like Lucien and I were earlier, he was frozen in place. Damien, alerted by the screams appeared at the doorway, running. His face changed drastically. His eyes went wide, his mouth opened to scream but no sound came out.

The thing began to bang on the door with all of its rage. It made the loudest and the most heinous racket in the world. It seemed to resonated so heavily through the building that it must have made the entire structure tremble. It felt so violent, I felt each blows through my ribcage, sound and energy vibrating away through my bones.

I yelled at the top of my lungs “The door! Hold the door! Hold the door!”. I too was having a breakdown. I was terrified of what this thing could do if it came out of the room.

Hugo and Damien looked terrified. Both in shock. Incapable of moving at first, Hugo quickly snapped out of it and jumped on the door, helping me to keep it close. I turned around to get a better grip when Damien took his son away from me. Both of them fell down against an armchair further. 

Holding that door was so hard, the force this thing had was enormous, Hugo and I had so much trouble to keep it shut. Hugo looked around and spotted something. “Hold on” he shouted at me. He ran away and took some kind of long metal bar, something that had fallen from the ceiling probably. I had no other choice but to hold on. It was so much harder without Hugo’s strength. The thing was banging and pulling on its side, raging, howling. I wouldn’t be able to hold on for a very long time. It was so much stronger than me. It was starting to gain ground, the door was opening slightly, only a few centimeters… but it would have been enough if Hugo didn't slide the bar through the metal handle to finally block the door.

He pushed it all the way through. He did it in such a rapid way that it caught my hand in the process and scratched me. No time for prudence, it had to be done.

We both pulled away from the door at the same time. Holding our breath, tensed up. We grabbed onto each other. Hugo held me close while the thing kept trashing around for what felt like very long minutes. None of us was moving. None of us could. Ernest was silent, probably baffled too. We waited. We couldn’t have done anything else.

Even after, when the thing finally stopped, we couldn’t make up our mind to move again. Too worried it would startle it again…

We all heard it get away from the door. The same limping steps, the same dragging noises, it’s heavy breathing getting further away from us… It cackled as it sank deeper in the back of the room. Yes, a cackle. A raspy but high pitched laugh. We all heard the cackle.

Then silence. Complete silence from the room. Only the wind and Lucien’s sobs.

Hugo and I looked at each other. We were out of breath. We were both shaking. All we could think was that we needed to get out of there. And fast.

We looked at Damien who was holding Lucien so firmly he could have suffocated him. The kid was crying into his dad’s arms, trying helplessly to catch his breath. Damien kept patting his back and rocking him, whispering reassuring words in his ears. He was close to tears too.

Hugo glanced back at me, asking me without needing words, if he could let go of my hands. I nodded. I didn’t want to let go of him, but we needed to move and get out. 

We helped them back up. Lucien could barely walk. The poor boy was completely wet, his clothes were damp and cold. The rain must have got to him somehow. His entire body was trembling and he was absolutely livid. He didn’t look very steady on his feet. Damien and I held him up and helped him run while Hugo lit up our way. 

Ernest kept asking, completely panicking, if Lucien was ok, what had just happened, what happened to Lucien, what was the thing in the room, if his dad was ok, if we all were ok. We only gave him quick and hazardous responses, all on edge we urged him to keep it quiet. We didn’t want to make noises. We didn’t want to startle the thing again… What if it has another way out? It’s damn fast, it could catch up on us in no time.

We ran toward the service staircase. I swear, I saw the door of the creepy room, the… Mama room, open. From the corner of my eye, I saw it open, I saw the damn bed. I swear, I had closed the damn door. I made sure it was closed. I am sure I saw it opened again. All my senses were screaming at me to get the hell out of there. My heart was pounding so heavily I could feel each of its beat in my entire body.

Hugo went first and waited down the stairs for Damien and Lucien, as to catch them if they fell. He looked around, to make sure the coast was clear first. I noticed he kept an eye out, to check I was still behind Dames and Lucien. I saw him smile in relief.

As I was waiting to be able to enter the staircase, something on my right caught my eye. The stairs were frail, we each had to go through individually if we didn’t want it to break down with us. Although… I might not have minded that much an opportunity to get down faster… 

I looked up at what caught my attention. And I regretted it instantly. I felt all the hair on my body rise up and my nerves stung me again. Ernest faintly cried “Oh no.” I thought the exact same. Why on earth did I lookup? 

The door that was originally opened through the hallway, was now closed.

The hallway was clear, I could see the window at the end of it. It was so dark.

I moaned out of fear, I couldn’t hold it anymore. There was no tough guy left. We had to leave.

Ernest whispered to us, halfway crying, to hurry up.

It creaked and squeaked, but it held. We made it down the stairs safely, although, the banister broke in half as Damien accidentally knocked it. He caught himself pretty well and fairly graciously, holding onto the walls.

We ran through the main lobby, I’m pretty sure I heard noises of something roaming behind us. Please let it be my companion rat this time. I did learn my lesson and did not look back to confirm. I did not look through the other hallway. I kept my eyes on Hugo all the time. He was the one looking around and directing us towards the exit. 

We made such a racket going in the lobby. Those damn beer bottles… In our haste we simply couldn’t pay attention not to knock them.

We got quickly into the little office that served us as an entrance earlier. Hugo got out first and helped Lucien climb the window. Being the last one, my first instinct had been to close the door behind me. I even took the chair that was still in there to lock the door. You never know. “Is that really necessary? Just Hurry you guys are almost there!”. Ernest’s voice was breaking.

Lucien was hardly holding on. He barely had the force to hold himself up. He was pale, so pale, his hands were cold… Getting out that window, even with help, it used all the energy he had left.

Ernest got out of the car and rushed toward us when we approached the fence. His dad yelled at him to go back in. I never heard Hugo screaming so deeply and loudly. But Ernest didn’t listen. I’m glad he didn’t. He held onto the mesh of the fence to keep the opening as wide as can be to help us out of this vile place. I was so proud of him for thinking about doing that. And also, to gather the courage to do so, he must have been very scared too. He kept barking at us to hurry the F up… well…A la Ernest…

Damien carried his son to the car, Lucien was on the verge of passing out. Damien shoved him in the back seat, he sat next to him. I made sure to stay behind Ernest, holding onto his collar and hushing him toward the car. We threw ourselves into the car. The first thing Hugo did was to lock the doors.

We took a moment to calm down, regain composure. We were safe. Nothing could reach us.


	6. Drive home

We caught our breaths. We were in bad shape… 

We checked on each other. We were safe, we were ok.

Damien was holding dearly onto his son, who seemed to regain a bit of energy once in safety. Managing to sit straight up, and eying around nervously. He was still shaking, he was damped to the bone. He must have been freezing. I have no idea how long he was in there, but, between the time he and Ernest got separated and now… there’s been two hours at least… 

Damien took his cloak out and put it on the boy’s shoulders. Ernest replicated the gesture, taking out his hoodie to help cover Lucien. It wasn’t very… efficient… Ernest being a lot smaller than Lucien, but the thought was much appreciated.

Everybody asks if he’s ok, and Lucien can’t seem to be able to answer. He just nodded at some point, snuggling closer to his dad. He hid his face away in his dad’s clothes, finally detaching his eyes from the infernal building, finally feeling safer.

“What the hell was that??” Ernest ultimately lets out. Addressing all of us but mainly directed at his father. As if he knew all things. Hugo shook his head and ignored the question. Or more accurately was not able to reply. 

He asked and asked again pushing aggressively on his father’s seat. I managed to catch his feet and told him to stop, without yelling. I didn’t want to raise my voice and no one else seemed to want to calm him down. But, doing that or doing nothing was about the same with Ernest. I tried to explain to him we didn’t know any better than him. That we needed to process. “I don’t even know what I saw…, I mean, do you? You saw through the camera right?”. He eased up… He was lost, he was scared… He’s only a kid. Tonight was a lot to take in for him.

We will sort this out, later. We needed to get out of here first. “Are you good? Can you drive?” I asked Hugo. He was blankly staring in front of him, absorbed by his own mind. I put my hand on his shoulders and he came back to reality. “Yeah yeah…” He murmured. He passed his hands on his face as to wake himself up. He let out a deep sigh. He turned his key into the ignition. The headlights turned on.

Both of us jumped on our seats. I grabbed Hugo by the arm.

In front of the car, behind the fence, above a tiny bush.

Two green eyes gleamed with the light of the car. 

First, looking down, squinting at the headlights, then the eyes moved and looked directly at us, through the windscreen. 

Their movements gave us shivers down our spine. It took our breath away. Paralyzed.

It wasn’t a reflection of light on a rock or some metal debris. Those were eyes. They were moving. I couldn’t make up the head around them. Everything was black, except for the shining eyes… All my mind could imprint was the image of that snow-white sclera, with the narrow green iris, and the sharp, piercing pupil. It looked at Hugo and it looked at me. Distinctively, it had identified us both. It took the time to glare at us individually and to lock its eyes into ours. 

It was its eyes. I was certain of it.

I gathered enough courage to react and shook Hugo’s arm, moaning in fear. I tried to speak up and say something but I could not articulate anything. Hugo came back to his senses and punched the accelerator, drove us back on the road hastily. Ernest yelled at him to be more careful. That he was gonna kill us if he kept driving like this. 

But Ernest did not see. He did not see what we just witnessed. Thankfully. Damien too, was surprised Hugo hit the road like that. But the fact we were both silent and looked beyond terrified again tipped them off. They seemed to understand what just happened. At least, they got the idea. They stayed silent a moment to let us cool off a little.

It was very difficult for Hugo. His eyes kept looking everywhere, road, behind, rear-view, road, behind, rear-view… Little drops of sweat formed on his forehead. I asked him if he wanted me to drive, but he refused to stop the car until home… As if… anywhere but home wasn’t safe… We never explained them what we had seen. Never. Not even to this day.

Lucien appeared to recuperate, minute by minute. But he was still freezing and his voice shivered along with him. Damien implored us to turn up the heat. He thanked us for coming to get him multiples times, even thanked Ernest for asking for help. At the beginning of their exploration, they had sworn not to tell any adult no matter what. He was glad his friend broke that rule. He thought for sure he was going to die alone in this room. That “she” was going to eat him.

During the ride, he kept rambling about all the grim thoughts he had while in there… But he never explained exactly how he got in there, why, what he saw, or who “she” was… He sounded like he was elsewhere. Ignoring the questions Damien and Ernest were asking him… He was repeating himself a lot too. I guess it was the shock. Ernest looked concerned for his friend’s mental, eying toward me or Dames, to be sure he wasn’t the only one noticing. 

I had a hard time following the conversation, I was still on edge and couldn’t help but checking each object that was remotely shining or green. I noticed Hugo was doing it too. We only eased up once we got back in the city and passed in front of Mat’s café.

But one thing I understood is: Lucien never went further down the hallway than the break room. He never saw the weird creepy “decorated” room.

Arriving at our cul de sac, we were beaten up. All of us were beyond exhausted. Our nerves were breaking up. It’s when Hugo got out of his car that he realized how tense he was. His hands ached because of how tightly he was grasping the wheel. I saw him rub them and cracking them.

Damien had a moment of hesitation before going back to his house. It’s only another big, dark building. I felt him. I was really damn happy I had the chance of spending the rest of the night with Hugo at his place, rather than going back to mine alone. Off courses, we said we would keep our phones close, just in case, he could call us at any time… if he had any sort of problem. It seemed to reassure Damien enough. Him and Hugo being direct neighbors, we would keep an eye out.

We wished each other goodnight, it sounded pretty ironic. This night had been a terrifying catastrophe… 

We waited until we saw Damien closing his front door, before entering ours. To be certain.

Even once inside, we couldn’t fully calm down. We were all fidgety. We were still very sensitive to wood cracks. Well… mostly me. And guess who owns mostly solid wood furniture? Right… I’m salty now but I do honestly appreciate Hugo’s taste in matter of decoration and furnishing. Just not right now…

Hugo couldn’t hold still, while I let myself become one with the couch, he kept going back and forth between the kitchen and the living room. Making tea, checking on the tea, bringing cups, bringing the tea, getting food… He wasn’t planning on going to bed anytime soon. I watched him, walking around the house, wondering how he could still have energy for that. My whole body had given up on me, I was a mess… Hugo noticed and has been so kind as to bring me anything I wanted. Guess who munched on chocolate to destress?

Hugo tried to push Ernest to bed, but he refused and almost begged to stay in the living room with us. I guess Hugo would have appreciated some time alone with me to discuss what had happened. To better comprehend. He wanted to shield his son from that.

But he’s in this with us… Him and his father argued. Although, when Ernest’s voice started breaking down and his eyes began to tear up, Hugo dropped it. To be sure to bring the fight to an end, I went upstairs to gather everyone a blanket. It’s not for the few hours of night left… If I was in Ernest’s shoes, I would surely feel the same. How many times do you think I let a spooked tiny Amanda sleeping with us on the couch… Only to put her to bed once she starts snoring…

Hugo and Ernest both agreed to a truce: to never speak of this night with his other father. Or else they would both be in huge trouble.

I also took bandages and alcohol for my hand. It was but a simple cut, yet I didn’t want to take any risk.

I flipped every single light switch on my way. My path was safe from darkness. And I had to repress the urge to ran out of the room each time I turned the switch back off. Like a child, yeah… 

Back in the living room, Ernest made fun of me for that. “Not so much a tough guy now, are you”. But we both knew he would be doing the same thing for over a week. 

Hugo gave me a warm smile, thanked me for the blankets, appreciating fondly my gesture. When Hugo smiles genuinely, he gets a small dimple on his right cheek. He had prepared a comfy spot for his son with a lot of pillows. Ernest thanked us while I patched my hand up. I shrugged when they asked me how I got that cut. I couldn’t recall.

We tried to lighten the mood, distract ourselves. Turned on the tv, tried to find something funny. We could go back and re-watch the MLW Fusion episode? No, Ernest wouldn’t like that… We ended up putting on a Disney. Somehow, he didn’t reject the idea. 

But our conversation kept going back to tonight’s events. Ernest wanted to investigate and find out what the thing in the room was. Was making elaborate plans on “how to catch it” Hugo did not have the patience to deal with them and kept avoiding the subject, tried to shush him. Between my irrepressible yawns, I continuously highlighted each flaw of Ernest’s plans, making him reject them right away.

Hugo got quiet when I asked Ernest if he did recall me closing the door of the room with the all “mama” scenery. Maybe, with all the stress and the panic, my brain created a memory of me closing the door. I don’t know.

Ernest recalled it. “Yes, yes you did, I know you did. Why are you asking?” I ignored the “don’t answer” Hugo’s face was making to me. I needed to be sure. This was messing with my mind.

“Well… when we ran back down, it was open.” Ernest stared at me in disbelief. “No… you are making it up, this isn’t-… is this a revenge for the Christie voice thing? Because I was messing with you. And I won’t say sorry since you’re kidding with me here…   
\- No, I’m not kidding with you, I wish I was. It scared the crap out of me, but I saw it open on the corner of my eye. I saw the bed…” I muttered to myself “Well maybe I think I saw… Maybe it was just another room…” Hugo kept staring at the ground intensely.

Ernest asked his dad if he did see the door being open too. Of course, Hugo didn’t answer. Said he wasn’t sure. But the glance he gave me said it all.

My head was only getting heavier. I would not stop yawning. Meanwhile, Hugo was at his third cup of tea, already brewing another pot. And Ernest was wide awake too, brainstorming with many ideas, theories and possible explanations that I could not keep up with.

“Maybe we should like, send the cops there or something? Like you know, we make up a story, we tell them we saw light in the building on our way home from… a concert or something, and that we’re worried since the building is old and dilapidated, you know? So they’ll go and check and we will know what was inside, they will give us feedback right?”

Hugo was a bit stunt by his son, of all people, could make up such an elaborated idea. But it wasn’t that bad actually, I had it in the back of my mind, to be honest. 

“Oh, but, you barricaded the room right. They certainly won’t check it then… Unless we can make them think someone is trapped inside?  
\- Enough kiddo, you watch too many movies…”

We still had to try and make him forget about this idea. I thought about something else…

“Ernest… Did you… like, record the video call we had?” The boy’s face light up. Finally, a good way to pursue the investigation further.

“Wait! Yes, yes I did!”

“Show me” I snapped his phone out of his hands. He did not appreciate and made me understand in a very rude way that I shall not repeat here. But the judging eyes of his father made him comply.

He showed me the video he took, and I sent it to myself before deleting it without telling him. And yes, I deleted it completely, Amanda had taught me how to. I knew I gained Ernest’s wrath for weeks with this, but it’s better for him. We don’t want him obsessing over this. But he won’t forgive me… I was hoping today’s event had brought us a little bit closer…

“Why do you have to do such a dick move! You were almost cool!” 

He and Hugo argued for a while again, and I slowly drifted to sleep. The sound of their voices rocking me.


	7. Sweet Home

I woke up with the sun, Hugo could not believe I actually manage to fall asleep. But I was too exhausted, but once the tension completely left me, I couldn’t hold back. I guess I also felt so much safer in his place, with him.

Of course, he stayed wide awake all night. Started making coffee instead of tea… Ernest went into his room once he felt safe and reassured enough to do so. I had so much trouble getting back on my feet. Every muscle of my body felt sore and heavy… I felt like a grandpa moving around… Amanda would have mocked me so much, I can already hear her voice imitating an old man “When I was young… we didn’t have phones…” I noticed Hugo was stiff as well, he rubbed his neck mechanically almost every now and then.

Unlike me, he didn’t take the time to eat. Said he wasn’t hungry… At least he didn’t mind my gluttony… But I was worried. He kept himself busy all morning. Even tried to go back to work. I had no idea how he was still standing on his feet after all this… He couldn’t stay focus at all. 

A lot of effort and kisses on my part had been required to get him to slow down. I made him agree to rest and even managed to convince him to call in sick on Monday. He so desperately needed a real break. 

I know, he still has his obligations… But there is literally no point trying to create a lesson when you can barely type right on your keyboard. Last night’s events were only pilling upon his already present over-exhaustion. For one day, someone else will have to deal with Collin. That sounded like a strong argument in my favor. Hugo let me push him to bed. He was reluctant, but I know he appreciated the care. “It’s been a while since someone cared about me like that.” 

Although, we noticed upon getting to bed, that both of us were bruised. And not a little bit… Hugo had large marks on his entire back. But he didn’t knock himself, unlike me, and he didn’t fall. It seemed painful, it probably was linked to the soreness of his neck. I too, had rather huge marks on my chest, back and shoulders. I was only expecting to have the shape of the desk I accidentally knocked printed on my butt… Did something touch my chest? Nothing that I can recall. I had claw marks on my right arm, but those were easy to explain: Lucien, he really did dig through my skin.

It was odd, but we brushed it off. We made a lot of effort, had a lot of adrenaline, maybe we knocked ourselves and didn’t feel it at the time.

We made our bed extra comfy adding blankets and pillows, even light up a scented candle to recreate yesterday’s early night ambiance. It was so nice to finally have this moment of peace. When I think this is how our night was supposed to go in the first place. I offered Hugo a shoulder massage. His eyes were shining, I don’t think his ex offered him many massages. He eventually seemed to let go and relax.

We stayed in bed, holding each other close. We decided to read a book, even though Hugo was starting to actually get exhausted. He didn’t read much. But spent a long time observing me do so.

“Can I give you a kiss?” I put down my book as a “yes” And Hugo kissed me tenderly on my cheek… then on my jaw… then on my neck. Those were the sweetest of kisses. His mustache tickling me lightly.

Hugo cradled my face in his hands and kissed me gently on the nose. He spoke softly. “You know, I got so scared when I noticed I couldn’t find you.” I kissed him back, brushed my fingers along his jaw. I have been so scared of losing him too. “I love you”. I took his hands in my and pressed my lips against his one last time.

I snuggled against him, buried my face in his neck. All I wanted was to feel the softness of his skin against mine… I felt so safe and in this instant that I completely forgot all the fear and worry. I sighed with relief. I passed my hands through his hair again and he leaned his head against mine.

We fell asleep quickly. 

Amanda called me in the afternoon, to check up on me. Good kid. I appreciated it, as much I felt lazy to pick up. I didn’t want to leave Hugo’s arms even for one second…

I didn’t have the energy to tell her right away, and said I would explain later the night we had. I should have predicted that her teenage mind would… make completely different assumptions, from such vague sentences on the circumstances of a night that could be leading to exhaustion and soreness… Yeah, I should have guessed… Eh, I let her have her fun… Hugo hasn’t stopped laughing yet at the way she hung up on me.

We also called Damien and Lucien to check on them in the evening. They didn’t get much sleep either. Lucien spent all day with a bad headache, coughing… As could be expected, he caught a cold. His father still tried to learn more about what happened, Lucien was very reluctant to answer. He seemed confused when explaining to his father, unclear. As if he had partially forgotten. At least, they’re fine. We’re fine.

Oh, and, quick thing: We did do the cop thing Ernest suggested, without telling him off course, it would have made him spiraled back up on this. We twisted his story a bit to make it work in broad daylight… And they dispatched a unit. We can’t say they were useful, but they did something.

“Hello sir, ah yes, you are the ones who called about the sanatorium… There was no one sir. We saw no one and no sign of anybody… Ah yes, the fence you mentioned. We reported it, it’s going to get replaced soon… Oh, it is a well know squatting spot, you know, you don’t have to worry… Hum, like what?… Oh… Um well, we-uh… It probably has become a safe place for wildlife… Yes, that certainly was the noises you heard… I mean, probably… We did find a surprising amount of small animal carcasses… But no, as we said, nothing to worry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you a lot for reading until the end!  
> Please please please, it would really help me if you could tell me what you thought of my story. Was it scary? Were the fluffy moment actually fluffy? Was it cringy?  
> But anyway, no matter what, thank you a lot for reading!


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